Detroit Tigers Have Work To Do To Defend American League Central Title

By Andy Schmidt

Tim Fuller-US PRESSWIRE

The Detroit Tigers just went through their second World Series loss in the last six years after getting swept by the San Francisco Giants. Detroit now has a challenge on their hands in the American League Central division with the moves the Kansas City Royals made in the last few days. The Tigers will get Victor Martinez back after missing the 2012 season with a knee injury.

Detroit also will have another year of the dangerous combo of Prince Fielder and Triple Crown winner Miguel Cabrera to go with the star pitching of Justin Verlander. The Tigers stack up very well with the Royals and the Chicago White Sox and on paper could win the division by at least eight games but obviously titles aren’t won on paper. Detroit needs to make some moves of their own to combat what Kansas City has done. The Tigers needs to make sure they go out and re-sign Anibal Sanchez, whom the team traded for last season. That would be the lone place where Kansas City and possibly Chicago are better than Detroit with the starting pitching.

It’s going to be a hard 2013 for the Tigers trying to defend their American League championship and just getting out of their division will be a chore in itself. The AL Central has become a much tougher place to play now and Detroit needs to make their own moves to try to stay with the other teams. If the Tigers don’t do that, it is very possible that either Kansas City or Chicago gets past Detroit this coming season.

Andy Schmidt is a columnist/writer for RantSports. Follow him on Twitter @ASchmidtSports or like his Facebook page.